(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-13 15:53

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Some coral reefs could be protected from global warming by a natural "thermostat" which regulates sea-surface temperatures in the open ocean, researchers said Wednesday.

The research team, led by Joan Kleypas, a reef specialist the National Center for Atmospheric Research, looked at the Western Pacific Warm Pool, a region northeast of Australia where sea-surface temperatures in the open ocean have risen little since 1980.

As a result, the reefs in that region suffered fewer episodes of coral bleaching, a phenomenon that has damaged nearly half the reefs worldwide. "Global warming is damaging many corals, but it appears to be bypassing certain reefs that support some of the greatest diversity of life on the planet," Kleypas said.